The UK's Bhaktivedanta Manor Celebrates 40 Years London, UK: On March 24, eight hundred guests attended the adivasa-puja ceremony at the UK's flagship temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor, in honor of its 40th anniversary.
Mandala Turns a New Page in Devotional Publishing : Mandala Publishing has become renowned for its dedication to quality and disseminating spiritual knowledge. The company's beautiful and artfully-packaged coffee-table books, which introduce a mainstream audience to Vedic culture, have earned multiple awards and won over readers around the world."I believe that books on our culture are Deities, and are manifestations of Krishna's internal energy," says publisher and founder Ram Das (Raoul Goff). "Just as the Deity is dressed and decorated in beautiful costumes and ornaments, these books should be treated the same way."
New Book Edited by Devotee Scholars : Ravi M. Gupta, associate professor of religious studies at The College of William & Mary, USA, and Kenneth R. Valpey (Krishna Ksetra Dasa), a colleague from the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies, are working on an abridged English translation of the Bhagavata Purana. Their translation will come out in 2014 and will accompany a new volume of scholarly articles examining the Bhagavata Purana, just published by Columbia University Press. It is entitled "The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition. Introducing the Bhagavata Purana's key themes while also examining its extensive influence on Hindu thought and practice, this new collection of essays conducts the first multidimensional reading of the text's entire twelve volumes.
ISKCON Youth Joins Staff of Interfaith Magazine 'KidSpirit' Potomac, USA: An ISKCON youth based near the Hare Krishna temple in Potomac, Maryland, USA has joined the staff of online interfaith magazine KidSpirit. Nimai Agarwal, 14, joined his local board six months ago. Nimai, son of Lokadhyaksa Dasa and Vidarbha-Suta Devi Dasi, was chosen due to his penchant for writing and deep thought.
Festival of India in DC Campuses: Festival of India (FOI), the transcendental roadshow that has been putting on spiritual fairs across the USA and Canada every summer since 1979, will hit college campuses in Washington D.C. and Virginia this spring.
Durban's Festival of Chariots Draws 2,00,000 Durban, South Africa: Jagarmatha Ratha-yatra, or Festival of Chariots, held here drew around 2,00,000 people to the promenade this weekend. The annual festival saw colourful chariots dragged through the promenade on Friday, followed by three days of song, dance and multi-faith discourses. More than 2,50,000 free plates of food were distributed.
ISKCON to Produce Ten More Videos for Smartphone App : On March 5 this year, Odyssey, America's largest multi-faith production company, announced a new grant for ISKCON Communications to produce ten more three to five minute films. Its Call on Faith app delivers eighty original short videos on fourteen different channels each month for a one-time download charge of 99 cents. The videos, which convey inspirational, religious and spiritual stories from the world's greatest faiths and spiritual traditions, are available on iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones and on the iPad and iTouch. Shooting will take place over the summer, and the films are likely to find their way onto the Call on Faith App by this fall.
Chief Minister Promises Land for ISKCON Temple Kurukshetra, Haryana: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced to provide a six-acre land for the construction of ISKCON temple at Kurukshetra, The Chief Minister said the proposed temple would be the replica of ISKCON temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh.
ISKCON Argentina Reaches A Mainstream Audience Buenos Aires, Argentina: The December issue of the popular New Age/religious magazine Uno Mismo featured on its cover, in saffron robes and bright Vaishnava tilak, ISKCON's spiritual leader Gunagrahi Dasa Goswami, who came to assist ISKCON Argentina in 1996.